NEW Virtualization Resource Hub

Whether you're new to virtualization, or a veteran systems admin, learn how to master your virtual universe with your new go-to resource for all things virtualization - trust us, you'll want to bookmark it.

The bees knees of virtualization: blogs, trends, and more you should keep up with

Back to basics: understand the fundamental principles behind the technology and how to explain it to your grandmother

To virtualize or not to virtualize? Just because everyone's doing it, doesn't mean you should…and more!

Turmoil has engulfed your IT environment, thrusting your database into an epic period of unrest—and not just because you’ve been awake for the past 36 hours. Imperial forces have seized control of your critical IT components (servers, applications, database, the coffee machine, etc.), and are threatening to unleash a catastrophic chain of events. We’re talking expensive queries, database bottlenecks, and wait time for dayz…. A quick resolution is your only hope. Right now this scenario could very well be standing in your way of being seated with popcorn in hand when the opening crawl for Episode VII starts to roll.

December Mission

It’s time for The Return of the DBA! Defeat the performance slowing empire & put some fun back into your IT admin day, with this month’s thwack mission! In order to qualify for the weekly and grand prizes, you must correctly answer all questions. Those who can complete this mission without missing any questions will earn 150 points per question and be entered to win the weekly and grand prizes. See below for the mission rules.

Mission Rules

A new question will open every day (Monday - Friday) starting on November 30.

Once a question has opened, it will remain open until December 20 @ 11:59pm CST. Check the schedule below for exact open/close times.

Only your first attempt at answering a question counts. Double check your answers!

Correctly answer all 5 questions within a given week and be entered to win weekly prizes.

You can RSVP to this meetup by joining the The specified item was not found. group (your request will be quickly approved).

We are currently building out the agenda and definitely looking for feedback on the types of questions you have, which products you want to talk/learn more about, etc. so please submit your suggestions in the The specified item was not found. group. Looking forward to seeing you all in a few weeks!

Working as the Community Manager for thwack for 4+ years now, I can say that one of the most requested "features" of the community has been to bring you and SolarWinds together, face-to-face, to meet, greet, share, and discuss IT trends, hot topics, and all things Orion. I am pleased to announce that we officially kicked off a pilot program (or "beta" for those who know SolarWinds language all too well) for SolarWinds User Groups and now, we're moving full steam ahead with SWUG in 2016!

Where is SWUG going in 2016 and how can I organize a user group for my area?

You, the community, are absolutely crucial to our ability to keep these user groups going. We need to see demand in various regions, we need people willing to host a space for 20-30 people, and we need user group leaders. Our first user group leader achievement goes to jbiggley and Jfrazier who have offered to host and organize a meeting for the Columbus, OH region and the DFW, Texas region in early 2016. We'll be seeing you soon Josh and John!

I've created a poll to capture where people want to meetup in 2016 - VOTE NOW! The bigger the demand, the better chance I have of getting SolarWinds experts and staff to your region.

If you are interested in being a user group leader, please reach out to me directly on thwack (DanielleH) or send an email to usergroups@solarwinds.com. We will give you all the tools (and budget) needed to get this going in your area, plus a few perks for yourself as a user group leader.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions. We hope to see you at a future SWUG meeting!!

So after a sleepless night of assisting with an upgrade I figured the BEST place to share the findings of an issue and the resolution would be within this community. To say my Halloween was scary is an understatement!

Here's the scenario:

4 VM's - 2 on Windows 2008 r2 and 2 already on Windows 2012 r2

Action plan

In place upgrade of the two windows 2008 r2 to Windows 2012 r2.

Upgrade SolarWinds products to latest builds and hotfix’s.

After math of VM upgrades:

Upgrade appeared to go fine. However, the collector services and the job engines would not start after the reboot of the completed upgrade to 2012 r2. Interesting at first as the error in the application event log stated "User does not have sufficient rights to start this service". Tried to uninstall the job engine and reinstall and install would fail and revert.

At this point, I'm thinking "Great, complete overhaul on SolarWinds products???", it’s time to put my trusty googling efforts in full force.

I compared the Windows 2012r2 that was already in place and noticed that the .net tcp port sharing service was started on them. When I went to the newly upgraded ones it was not. Eureka! I'll just start this right? No... The service would not start and had the error of “Service did not respond to start or control request in a timely fashion. Event ID: 7000".

I found that .net 4.5.1 actually will get broken on in place upgrades. That even the .net repair tool will not resolve. Since 4.5.1 is a part of windows 2012 it’s not easily uninstalled and reinstalled. So as a Hail Mary I was able to download and install .net 4.5.2 and apply. This resolved the issue and the port sharing was able to start.

I was able to then upgrade SolarWinds products without an issue, whef!

So as a precautionary tell if you’re planning on doing an in place upgrade be aware that .net can be partially broken. To resolve download and install 4.5.2 .net and everything should play nicely once again.

If any of you guru's out there know of ways to prevent this please share!

When your shin finds a drawer that is out of position, it might put a strain on your disposition. A flat tire in the driveway when you try to leave, might make you start feeling a little bit peeved. But when all your VMs have escaped from their cage, you’re sure to start thinking that it’s time for some rage! Rage against the virtual machine that is. This month’s thwack mission, “Rage Against the Virtual Machine,” puts you deep in the heart of your virtualized environment. Solve the riddles, earn bonus points, and possibly walk away with the grand prize: a PlayStation® 4 Limited Edition Star Wars® Battlefront® 500GB Bundle. May you emerge victorious and regain your sovereignty over those mutinous virtualized assets.

November Mission

This month we bring you Rage Against the Virtual Machine! In addition to the awesome prizes and thwack points up for grabs this month, we also created a mission "shortcut" to earn the Rage Against the Virtual Machine t-shirt!

In order to qualify for the weekly and grand prizes, you must correctly answer all questions. Those who can complete this mission without missing any questions will 1. Earn 150 points per question. 2. Get the Rage Against the Virtual machine t-shirt. 3. Entered to win the weekly and grand prizes. See below for the mission rules.

Mission Rules

A new question will open every day (Monday - Friday) starting on November 2.

Once a question has opened, it will remain open until November 29 @ 11:59pm CDT. Check the schedule below for exact open/close times.

Only your first attempt at answering a question counts. Double check your answers!

Correctly answer all 5 questions within a given week and be entered to win weekly prizes.

Week 1 - Drawing on November 9 for an Audio-Technica® AT-LP60 Turntable and a Rage Against the Machine® Album

Week 2 - Drawing on November 16 for a Rock Band® 4 Bundle

Week 3 - Drawing on November 23 for an Sphero BB-8 App Enabled Droid

Correctly answer all 15 questions over the course of the month to be entered to win our grand prize package!

SolarWinds solutions are rooted in our deep connection to our user base in the THWACK® online community. More than 150,000 members are here to solve problems, share technology and best practices, and directly contribute to our product development process. Learn more today by joining.

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